A rather unusual new service has appeared on Amazon Japan.
Grieving Japanese families can now hire a monk via the ecommerce platform to come to their home, funeral home or family grave, transport their loved one's ashes and perform Buddhist rituals.
The basic “Mr. Monk Delivery” package costs 35,000 Yen, equivalent to 300 US dollars, and is much cheaper than the costs charged by most Buddhist temples.
A spokesperson from Minrevi, the company behind Mr. Monk Delivery, has commented on why it chose to take to Amazon to promote its services: “Many people don't have ties with temples and they have no idea where and how to arrange Buddhist rituals, while monks are increasingly concerned about their declining temple membership. We can cater to the needs on both sides and hopefully we can bring them together.”